Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Cinema Verite’
I complained some time back, and it’s strange but I can’t find the post so you’ll have to take my word for it, about a trailer for a chinese movie that I considered misleading because it took every scene from a sad movie that had someone smiling or a cute girl, and mushed them together so it looked like a movie about cute girls and smiling people when it was really just about a bunch of losers, a bunch of victims, and getting beaten up for trying to protect your bicycle. I might have wanted to see it on its own merits, but when it misrepresented itself to me through its trailer I became resentful.
Well that’s got nothing on my dudgeon over the two Korean movies I recently saw. Both have promo stills on the cover of the DVDs and on the menu screens, which totally do not appear in the movies at all. One features a young boy and an old woman smiling, arms over each others’ shoulders; in the movie I don’t think they even touch and their relationship is painful, strained and only barely civil at best. It was a good movie but I kept waiting for the smiling and the hugging and it never happened. Again, I was misled.
And then, Shiri - Korea’s biggest budget and biggest money-making movie ever, an action spectacular - and the sexy woman on the promo still is not even in the movie. She never appears. Some other actress plays the part that the photo is supposed to depict. Okay, the actress they use is cute - even hot - but I’m waiting the whole goddamn time for this other chick to show up. Then most everybody gets killed violently and the movie ends. Goddamn ripoff.
I’m a very literal person. Either show me something accurate, tell me what you’re showing me is not accurate, or don’t show me anything. I don’t think this is a cultural difference, either - Chinese and Japanese films don’t pull this kind of crap. It’s a simple bait-and-switch, and I haven’t had enough to get ticked off about lately. Misleading Korean movie promo stills: you picked the wrong week to piss me off.